Las Vegas NowI-Team: Nevada Ranks Poorly on Stimulus Spending

I-Team: Nevada Ranks Poorly on Stimulus Spending

With all the projects going on, it's hard to believe there are road projects in Las Vegas that still need to be done. There are and there is money to pay for it.

Nevada got more $200 million in stimulus funding for road construction, but only a small fraction of it has been used. That's prompted two of Nevada's congresswomen to blast NDOT and the governor for slow action and bad roads.

The U.S. House Transportation Committee found Nevada ranked 46th in the country for spending stimulus road dollars. We lag behind nearly every state, spending less than a quarter of the money so far.

Congresswomen Dina Titus and Shelley Berkley say that's not good enough.

According to NDOT, some of the first money spent didn't go to Clark County, but to Humbolt County. "A lot of those projects were in the north. They were on the interstate system in the north," said NDOT Deputy Director Rudy Malfabon.

Malfabon says a large part of the money for the state still must have bids. Because of federal rules, the money could only go toward a narrow list of projects -- shovel-ready jobs and beefing up repaving efforts. That keeps NDOT from using the money on most existing projects.

Representative Titus says the low ranking for Nevada could show people we are not serious about the stimulus. That could keep money from flowing here in the future. She says NDOT and the governor need to speed things up. "It doesn't look like it's the money coming out of Washington, it looks like it's a problem with the money coming out of Carson City," she said.

The governor's office said more than 60-percent of the money is essentially spoken for, either spent or out for bid. Governor Gibbons' spokesperson said the congresswomen and their numbers were "out of line and out of touch."

NDOT says everything is on schedule. When the projects for Clark County are all done, a lot of the changes you'll see will be on the outskirts -- highways near Mesquite and Stateline.

Lawmakers have been told $200,000 spent equals one totally new or saved job, so it could be a big boon to southern Nevada.